Constitutional Court of Latvia and the Court of Justice of the European Union host a conference between the constitutional courts of EU Member States to discuss the importance of constitutional traditions in the European Union
Today, 2 September, a two-day conference co-organised by the Constitutional Court of Latvia and the Court of Justice of the European Union “EUnited in diversity: between common constitutional traditions and national identities” will begin. This will be the first time in the history of the European Union that judges from the constitutional courts of the Member States and the Court of Justice of the European Union will come together to find, through dialogue, a common understanding on how to reconcile the idea of European unity with the different constitutional traditions and national identities.
The protection of fundamental rights is a field where competences of national constitutional courts and of the Court of Justice of the European Union often overlap. Therefore, it is important to discuss how to reconcile the diverse national identities and constitutional values of the Member States, while guaranteeing the uniform interpretation and application of European Union law.
The conference will be divided into two sessions consisting of four panel discussions. The first panel will be dedicated to the constitutional traditions common to the Member States. The second panel will look at the competences of the Court of Justice of the European Union and those of the national constitutional courts when dealing with different levels of regulatory harmonisation. The third and fourth panel discussions will examine whether different levels of protection of fundamental rights can co-exist in different Member States and in the European Union and what are the limitations to the exercise of those fundamental rights.
There will be contributions from Egils Levits, President of the Republic of Latvia; Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union; Gunārs Kusiņš, judge of the Constitutional Court of Latvia; Ineta Ziemele, judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union; François Daoût, President of the Belgian Constitutional Court, as well as other judges of the constitutional courts from 23 Member States and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
A joint press conference will be organised on Friday, 3 September, at 9.30 (EET) at which Sanita Osipova, President of the Constitutional Court of Latvia and Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union will provide information about the issues discussed at the conference and the conclusions reached. .
A live stream of the press conference will be available:
in Latvian: https://vimeo.com/594625130
in English: https://vimeo.com/595204715
To participate in the press conference, please contact Zanda Meinarte: Zanda.Meinarte@satv.tiesa.gov.lv, phone +371 26393803.
For a more detailed information see the conference brochure.
Programme of the conference is available here.